Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (left) and Henry Paulson Jr., Treasury secretary under President George W. Bush, are two of the co-chairs of the Risky Business Project. The third is Thomas Steyer, a hedge fund manager and big Democratic donor. less

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (left) and Henry Paulson Jr., Treasury secretary under President George W. Bush, are two of the co-chairs of the Risky Business Project. The third is Thomas Steyer, a ... more

Photo: Associated Press

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Hurricane Sandy damage was extensive in Mantoloking, N.J., in 2012. The report says: “If we stay on our current climate path,” some properties with 30-year mortgages in New Jersey and other states “could quite literally be underwater before the note is paid off.” less

Hurricane Sandy damage was extensive in Mantoloking, N.J., in 2012. The report says: “If we stay on our current climate path,” some properties with 30-year mortgages in New Jersey and other states “could ... more

These and other risks from climate change are spelled out in a new bipartisan report that attempts to tally the potential toll on the economy and to push what has been a highly politicized issue into corporate boardrooms for serious consideration.

The report, titled “Risky Business: The Economic Risks of Climate Change to the United States,” comes from a coalition of high-powered business and political figures, including former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros and three former Treasury secretaries.

The money men who backed the project are Risky Business Project co-chairs Henry Paulson Jr., Treasury secretary under President George W. Bush; former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg; and Thomas Steyer, a hedge fund manager and big Democratic donor. The trio commissioned the Rhodium Group, an economic research firm, to study the economic impact of global warming.

“If we act immediately, we can still avoid most of the worst impacts of climate change and significantly reduce the odds of catastrophic outcomes,” Paulson said.

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A key conclusion of the report is that the risks vary, sometimes widely, by region and industry sector. By 2050, it warns, Americans could face double or triple the number of extremely hot days (temperatures exceeding 95 degrees) compared with the annual average in the past 30 years.

The report identified specific impacts likely to hit Texas in five to 25 years:

Average summer temperatures could rise by as much as 3.2 degrees.

The state could experience between 63 and 80 days that are over 95 degrees per year (currently, Texas averages almost 43 days at that level).

Sea level rise alone could account for an additional $165 million to $229 million in coastal flooding costs every year.

Cisneros, in a telephone interview Tuesday from Washington, D.C., said business communities and local governments need to prepare for climate change and mobilize to speak in unified voices “to change the conversation.”

“How are people going to live?” he asked rhetorically. “In parts of the country, it will be unsafe to live. We're still at the point where we can do some things” to affect climate change, he said. “But there will be a point where things won't turn around. With the risk of extreme events, we need to be moved to action.”

San Antonio's business community can have a chance to lead awareness, Cisneros added.

“From the San Antonio perspective, we have to be mindful about how our own growth will be limited,” he said, citing future water supply issues and possible lack of energy supplies. “We need to be thinking about those.”

Cisneros said he was appointed to the select Risky Business Project committee by two of the co-chairmen, Bloomberg and Paulson.

The study estimates that communities in the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast could see storm-related property damage jump by as much as $3.5 billion a year by 2030 and possibly more than double that given likely hurricane conditions.

“If we stay on our current climate path, some homes and commercial properties with 30-year mortgages in places in Virginia, North Carolina, New Jersey, Alabama, Florida and Louisiana and elsewhere could quite literally be underwater before the note is paid off,” the report says.

The Southwest faces some of the biggest risks as the climate heats up: Less snow on mountains could lead to decreases in spring runoffs in the Rockies and California as high temperatures cause evaporation of existing reservoirs.

The report also notes that if current conditions continue, the sea level along the coastline of San Diego likely will rise up to 1.2 feet before 2050. There is a 1-in-100 chance, the study goes on to say, that sea levels could rise by as much as 5.5 feet by the end of the century, which could imperil major Marine installations and naval bases.

“There's a whole litany of things not calculated in the assessment,” said Gary Yohe, an economics and environmental studies professor at Wesleyan University and vice chair of the National Climate Assessment, a U.S. government project set up to study the effects of climate change. Yohe was not part of the Risky Business Project report, but he was asked to review it.

It remains to be seen how much the report and exhortation from such prominent figures in finance and government can help defuse a politically charged issue or change the short-term thinking in boardrooms.

The National Association of Manufacturers, which like the chamber opposes the Obama administration's recent proposal on reducing carbon emissions from coal power plants, issued a statement saying U.S. policies to control greenhouse gases must be made in concert with other major emitting nations. (The Risky Business report tallied the potential harm only to the U.S. economy.)

In a statement, the manufacturers group's vice president, Ross Eisenberg, said: “Unilateral regulations, like those being contemplated by the current administration, will only make manufacturers less competitive and ensure that the next generation of energy technologies are developed elsewhere.”